Roman Holiday – a new wine bar under review
This evening I had the impromptu pleasure of meeting up with a close friend of mine to visit a new wine bar, Roman Holiday, which just opened (like yesterday) in Santa Clarita. I say visit loosely because (a) we wanted to meet up somewhere where we could talk and catch up on the happenings of our lives, and (b) because it’s a wine bar and we’re wine people, so why not review the wine bar while we’re there? The place is actually quite beautiful, the ambiance absolutely receives an A+. It’s warm, refined, comfortable and unpretentious – and they have a good number of wines available to taste. There is no menu to speak up, except for the chalk-writing on a dark wall listing the available cheeses, meats and sides. The wines require you to walk around and see what is being offered from the self-serve, portion controlled, wine dispensers. Quite honestly, I think it would be pretty cool to have one of those dispensers on my kitchen counter – but that would require a kitchen counter, and a kitchen, and a house, and that’s an entirely other blog! Anyways, the dispensers are pretty neat. This is how it all works:
- purchase a wine card – which is very much like a prepaid gift card
- grab a glass
- walk around and select your wine
- slide your wine card into the slot – and leave it there. Your balance is displayed before you.
- Select your wine and your desired pour — a taste is 1 oz, a 1/2 glass is 3 oz and a full glass is 5 oz
- the cost of your selection is automatically deducted from your prepaid tasting card
- Enjoy.
It’s all fairly simple and pretty fun — my friend described it best when he said it was like going to Vegas because it goes quick!
While enjoying the wines, you have an option to purchase a small cheese, meet or combo plate. I opted to purchase a combo plate, which includes 3 items and 3 sides — for a mere $15. I say that sarcastically, because once you see how much food you get, you realize that like Vegas, the favor goes to the House. It was tasty, but rather sparse. Good thing I had some cheese in the fridge at home to munch on later.
Let’s talk about the wine selection – there were some good ones, like the flight of Far Niente they offered, over to some not-so-great ones, which I already forgot about. Our favorite for the 
evening had to be the Cab/Zin blend named The Vault from Banknote Cellars — yummy. A 1/2 glass was about $6.20 – and worth every cent! I did try a wine that I had high expectation of, only to find that it had already turned. When I brought it to the attention of management, politely of course, the explanation I received was that it was ‘performing as expected’. What does that mean? “Performing as expected”? All I know is that it wasn’t good and it wasn’t getting any better — so if she meant that it’s bad and it’s getting worse, then I’d say that she described it to a “t”! Otherwise, my unsolicited advise would be to remove it from the kiosk and replace it with a fresh bottle.
On another note, when I got home, I began wondering what exactly a “roman holiday” was, so I looked it up. Apparently it has 3 definitions –
- A 1953 production staring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck (he was cutie) where a princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American in Rome
- Enjoyment or satisfaction derived from observing the suffering of others.
- A violent public spectacle or disturbance in which shame, degradation, or physical harm is intentionally inflicted on one person or group by another.
I’m hoping that the name of the wine bar stems from the movie. If it doesn’t then I’m wondering if Roman Holiday is going to “perform as expected” in a community which already has a fairly decent number of wine establishments pouring delicious wines.
Overall, I’d rate Roman Holiday as a B-. It’s definitely above average, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement. I look forward to seeing what is to become of Roman Holiday, because the space and atmosphere are top notch. Would I go again? Sure!
I was catching up on the various “tweets” on Twitter this morning and I came across one that mentioned “user-friendly” wines. My first thought, was “hmmm, interesting”, so I went on to read the article posted by a very respected person in the “wine world”. His post give readers a basic list of wines that would go with their meal. Great!
